Finding your best "Planning"-self

Happy Friday! As I wrote last week, we all have two selves. Our Mr. Spock self (The Planner) is rational and conscious about what is best for us in the long-run. Our Homer Simpson self (The Doer) is impulsive and will prioritize the short-term gain. Now that we know this, our first challenge is to determine when we are “Most like Mr. Spock”, and use that version of ourselves to plan our week - telling us what to do and when to do it.

Is planning your week really that important?

As you know by now, I have obsessed over the past 13 years around the topic of productivity and my conclusion is that:

"all roads lead to weekly planning."

Yes, it is that important. It is one of the main ways how we can guarantee effectiveness.

OK I’m convinced… now, WHEN should I plan my week?

From my own research, most common times are Monday morning, Friday afternoon and Sunday evening. I have also seen other examples such as people who do their reviews Tuesday mornings because they always have repetitive and predictable work on Mondays (e.g. prepping for a Business Review or pulling data to build reporting).

To determine the best time to plan your week you have to understand both: when is the best day, and what is the best time during that day. To know this, my proposal is to answer these two questions:

1. Do you have the Sunday Scaries?

If you have ever felt a bit of anxiety as soon as you hit Sunday afternoon, you are not alone. According to a LinkedIn study, 80% of Americans worry about the week ahead on Sunday (and it gets worse for younger generations).

Planning your week removes these feelings of uncertainty on a Sunday. So if you have experienced this, you will definitely benefit from planning your following week, every Friday.

2. What is your chronotype?

There are several authors that talk about this concept as a way to determine our energy levels throughout the day (and thus what type of work we ought to be doing at specific times). The definition I like the most comes from the book ”When” by Dan Pink:

A. The Larks (~15% of population): Are most alert early in the morning. They should plan their week early in the morning.

B. The Night Owls (~20% of population) : Go to sleep and also wake up later. They are the best selves during the late afternoon or at night-time. They should plan their week during the afternoon or evening.

C. The Middle Birds (65% of the population): For whom the 9-5 was invented. They should plan their week early-to-mid morning.

Great info…what do I do now?

"I like how you always end your newsletters with actionable next steps" - Anonymous reader

Thanks Anonymous, I really like that too, so I will continue to strive to make these posts actionable. My proposed next steps:

• Take a test to determine your chronotype. I particularly like this one (takes <5min)

• Reflect on whether you usually feel the Sunday Scaries

• After having an answer for these two questions, follow my (simplified) recommendation table below

• Schedule time in your calendar (start with one hour). What will you do during that time? Well, it can get complex...so I will dedicate future content to cover my insights. For now, just schedule the time to reflect on what you have done and what you will be doing next - that’s a great start

If you are a "Night Owl" working in the corporate world...I see you,

Jorge Luis Pando

PS: I am personally a "Middle Bird" with the moon in "Night Owl" (i.e. it is right now 9:38pm as I am finishing writing this). Also, (fortunately) I don't suffer from Sunday Scaries, so I do see my type (around 15% of total) to be the most flexible. As a matter of fact, I have tried all of the options in the table above. I started with the “textbook-version” of weekly planning on Monday mornings, then I switched to Sunday nights. I then had kids and switched to Friday afternoon. All worked for me at different times in my life. The key, as with all good habits, is to just start doing it.